So here’s the thing with vouchers. Sometimes, they are simply for introductory ‘teaser’ sessions that leave you wanting more. And that is precisely what happened when I took that Tantric workshop back in early March.

Seriously? Again?

It was an incredible evening that led me to sign up for an entire weekend course, which started yesterday, continued all day today, and runs again for a full day tomorrow. This type of class, although very rewarding, is completely exhausting, believe it or not, since it is highly emotionally charged and introspective. I have to say, it’s been a very long time, if ever, since I have done this much navel-gazing, and I actually mean that metaphorically – at least, so far. Gawd only knows what tomorrow will bring.

In terms of picking something for my new thing of the day, there truly were a plethora of options to choose from. Here is but a small smattering of things that I can honestly say I have never done before today:

I walked to a local park with a group of people, then split off to heighten one of my senses at a time, without talking to anyone. The first round consisted of staring at everything in a macroscopic way for a few minutes, followed by a similar exercise for a tiny microscopic area. Next, we went off to close our eyes and just listen to the sounds that surrounded us. Then, we walked around touching everything, from trees to pine cones to dandelion leaves. And finally, we smelled everything we could, including the flowers en route back to class. Like Pavlov’s dog, we all came running back to regroup and discuss between rounds at the sound of some lovely Asian bells chiming together.

I later silently found myself standing in front of a person, with our heart chakras opened to loving energy, staring into their eyes for a while, and then verbally praising them for about half a minute, before they kindly reciprocated. We each repeated this exercise about a dozen times with different workshop participants. At the end of it, we all felt calm and invincible.

After that, I participated in a group of women to share some of the reasons we… well, I can’t talk about that bit. It’s like fight club. Or Vegas. You had to be there. Next…

We Shakti goddesses danced around our Shiva men, welcoming them back from their own male bonding excursion.

We all sat down around a table cloth on the floor inside to eat our lunches, kind of like an indoor picnic.

Choose your weapon of wonderment.

The above activities, and really so much more, were building to the crescendo of the night, which was a sensual ritual. While the ladies got glammed up, the men also primped and prepared the altar, which consisted of objects we all brought.

I believe the goal was to feel ecstasy by basically being pampered and treated like royalty. I know, my life is just so damn difficult (tried to avoid using words like hard and suck here…). We all unleashed our inner rock stars, and got down to business, first honouring the men in the class, and then the women. This consisted of using objects from the altar that brought pleasure, including sarongs, feathers, smooth objects, beads, and, of course, bite-sized chunks of food, on our victims – uh, I mean, classmates.

So, I seized the moment and literally bit the hand that fed me raspberries, chocolate and mandarin orange slices. It just seemed appropriate, at the time. And who am I not to pounce on an opportunity like that? Okay, it was really my inner Shakti that made me do it… She really can’t be trusted.